An electric vehicle, also called an EV, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. An EV may be powered through a collector system by electricity from off-vehicle sources, or may be self-contained with a battery, solar panels or an electric generator to convert fuel to electricity. EVs include, but are not limited to, road and rail vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, electric aircraft and electric spacecraft. An electric-vehicle battery (EVB) or traction battery is a battery used to power the propulsion of EVs. Vehicle batteries are usually a secondary (rechargeable) battery. Traction batteries are used in forklifts, electric golf carts, riding floor scrubbers, electric motorcycles, electric cars, trucks, vans, and other electric vehicles. A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is a motor vehicle that can be recharged from any external source of electricity, such as wall sockets, and the electricity stored in the rechargeable battery packs drives or contributes to drive the wheels. PEV is a subcategory of EVs that includes all-electric or battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles, (PHEVs), and electric vehicle conversions of hybrid electric vehicles and conventional internal combustion engine vehicles.
An EV charging station, also called an electric recharging point, charging point, charge point, ECS (Electronic Charging Station) and EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment), is an element in an infrastructure that supplies electric power for the recharging of electric vehicles, such as plug-in electric vehicles, including electric cars, neighborhood electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. At home or work, some EVs have onboard converters that can plug into a standard electrical outlet or a high-capacity appliance outlet. EVs use a charging station that provides electrical conversion, monitoring, or safety functionality. These charging stations are also needed when traveling, and many support faster charging at higher voltages and currents than are available from residential EVSEs. Some public charging stations are implemented as on-street facilities provided by electric utility companies or located at retail shopping centers and operated by many private companies.
Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) describes a system in which PEVs such as battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV) or hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), communicate with a power grid to sell demand response and/or other services by supplying electricity to the power grid.